And Alex understood that Scotty Hausmann did not exist. He was a word casing in human form: a shell whose essence has vanished.

She looks like someone I want to know, or maybe even be.

Redemption, transformation--God how she wanted these things. Every day, every minute. Didn't everyone?

Oh we'll know each other forever, Bix says. The days of losing touch are almost gone.

What he needed was to find fifty more people like him, who had stopped being themselves without realizing it.

I’m like America ” he said. Stephanie swung around to look at him unnerved. “What are you talking about ” she said. “Are you off your meds ” “Our hands are dirty ” Jules said.

She'd risked everything, and here was the result: the raw, warped core of her life.